new wave feminism

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Sofia Vergara, of Modern Family, who maybe yells a little too much. (via newsweek)

Oh look, it’s a good thing I am typing this instead of, you know, actually YELLING at Newsweak.

Here is the thing: I can understand Sofia Vergara’s words, where she is coming from. Have I “used” the Latina stereotype to my advantage ever in social situations? Yes, probably. I mean, nobody is free from the social context where interactions take place. However, no amount of “making fun of our stereotypes” is ever going to fix stuff like this (from the article):

It’s a quality that DeGeneres poked fun of recently in a behind-the-scenes video for their first Cover Girl shoot, calling Vergara’s accent “phony” and claiming “to be sick of” Vergara’s struggles with the English language.

I’ve lost track of the amount of times I’ve had to smile politely while people made fun of my accent. We will only be truly free to embrace these stereotypes when we don’t have to deal with reactions like that. Meanwhile, no, I resent the fact that Newsweak implies we should all “exploit” it to our advantage.

(via redlightpolitics)

This even extends to the “Angry Black Woman” steretype. While I GUESS there are some instances where I can use it to my advantage/ as leverage to get my way. There are even instances where I can make light of it as it applies to my own life. Yes, we all know that stereotypes are everywhere and are a “normal part of life.” But when black women (and in this case Latina women) are only represented through these tropes and NOTHING ELSE - they begin to chip away at the ability for WOC to actually get taken seriously in a professional/serious environment.

There’s a difference between “stereotype embracing” and MOCKERY. We like to pretend its a fine line, but really, it’s not.